Eight friends play three-day video game marathon for charity

Syracuse, NY -- Eight friends from Syracuse will play a three-day video game marathon to raise money for a charity that gives toys and games to children staying in hospitals across the country and around the world.

Adelle Starr, who organized the event with her husband Daniel Fecteau, said the three-day marathon, Benefit Evil, will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday and end around 10 p.m. on Sunday. The eight friends will play 13 versions of the Resident Evil video game series for the Nintendo’s Wii console, Nintendo GameCube and Sony’s PlayStations 1, 2 and 3.

“Gaming is a hobby of ours and we thought this would be a great way to give back to the community,” Starr said.

The marathon will be broadcast live at www.benefitevil.com. Viewers will be able to watch the game action and donate to the cause on the website. There will also be a Web cam set up in Starr’s living room so viewers can catch all the action of the marathon. Fans can also chat with players and discuss the games.

“We are hoping our entertainment will provided a little extra incentive for people to donate to Child’s Play,” Starr said.

The Seattle-based charity, Child’s Play, is a non-profit organization that gives toys, video game systems and games to about 70 hospitals, which are mostly in the United States.

“We can all remember being home sick from school and playing Nintendo,” Starr said. “It just made you feel better.”

That same concept was the foundation for Child’s Play. Kristin Lindsay, the foundation’s coordinator, said video game marathons are a very popular way to hold a community fundraiser for Child’s Play.

“We see several dozen of them each year,” Lindsay said Tuesday in an e-mail. “It’s a great way for gamers to give back and raise money for children’s hospitals across the nation and the world.”

In the Resident Evil video game series players kill zombies and unravel the mysterious story lines, which involve corruption and conspiracies.

The other players for Benefit Evil are Logan Bretschneider, Jason Weeks, John Fecteau, Tim Jones, Chris Corp-Myer and Amanda Kane.